Trump denies sex assault ‘lies’

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Donald Trump savaged US media Thursday for reporting “outright lies” that he groped and forcibly kissed women, as First Lady Michelle Obama blasted the Republican nominee in a powerful tirade.

Just 26 days before the American electorate chooses a successor to her husband on November 8, a visibly angry first lady delivered a fiery takedown of the real estate mogul and his “disgraceful” behavior.

“Now is the time for all of us to stand up and say, enough is enough,” Obama told a rally for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire. “This has got to stop right now.”

Her husband turned up the heat later on Thursday, jetting to the key swing state of Ohio to lash Republicans tight to their sinking ship.

The New York mogul came from a “swamp of crazy” that Republicans had cultivated over decades, Barack Obama told the state where Trump has long held a lead but where a poll on Thursday edged Clinton ahead.

But the 70-year-old Trump was defiant, castigating his accusers as “horrible liars” and accusing Clinton of conspiring in a coordinated media attempt to sabotage his campaign.

At least six women have accused Trump of making unwanted physical advances in accounts reported by The New York Times, NBC, People Magazine, and others, most of them after Trump asserted in Sunday’s debate with Clinton that he had never sexually assaulted a woman.

With his campaign in free-fall and sliding in the polls, Trump pounded the battleground states of Florida and Ohio, denying the alleged incidents occurred and turning the guns on his opponent.

“These vicious claims about me of inappropriate conduct with women are totally and absolutely false,” Trump told a rally in West Palm Beach.

“They’re outright lies.” The attacks, he added, “are orchestrated by the Clintons and their media allies.”

Trump said his lawyers were preparing a lawsuit against The New York Times unless the paper retracts the article.